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Today's
Stories
November 1,
2005
Bill Quigley
Why
Are They Making New Orleans a Ghost Town?
October 31,
2005
Elaine Cassel
Libby's
Lies
Mark Weisbrot
Pop Goes the Bubble: Bernancke and the Fed
Mike Whitney
Carry On, Patrick Fitzgerald
Norman Solomon
After the Libby Indictment, the Press Acquits Itself
Farooq Sulehria
Trading Weapons While Kashmir Burns
Nicole Colson
Scapegoating Immigrants
Madis Senner
Dhafir Sentenced to 22 Years: Another Erosion of Civil Rights
Paul Craig
Roberts
Scooter
and the Neocons
October 29 / 30, 2005
Cockburn /
St. Clair
The
Libby Indictment: Gotterdammerung for the Bushies?
Peter Linebaugh
The
Wedges of Hephaestus
Tim Wise
Framing the Poor: Katrina, Conservative Myth-Making and the Media
John Chuckman
Bushspeak: Dark and Garbled Words
Steven Higgs
Green Hoosiers: Forging a New Democracy in the Heartland
Brian Cloughley
The Fifth Afghan War
M. Shahid Alam
Israel and the Consequences of Uniqueness
Nikki Robinson
Crack Down at Kent State
Ralph Nader
Let the PIRGs Begin!: Student Activism Thrives
Joe DeRaymond
Requiem for Bethlehem Steel?
Joshua Frank
Karl's Great Escape: Did Rove Rat on Scooter?
Laura Santina
Tongue-Tied on Iraq: Why Aren't the Dems Screaming Bloody Murder?
Fred Gardner
Death of an Organizer
Michael Dickinson
Insult Your Country
Ron Jacobs
Autumn in America
Dr. Susan Block
Fear and Sex: a Halloween Greeting
Vanessa S. Jones
Self-Portrait, 1994. Bronte Beach
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Marbet, Gardner, Ford, Albert, Engel, Krieger & St. Clair
Website of
the Weekend
Red State Update
October 28,
2005
Jared Bernstein
Inflation
Up; Wages Down: Fastest Decline in Wages on Record
Virginia Tilley
Embracing
the Anti-Aparthied Movement in Israel/Palestine
Phil Gasper
The
Race to Execute Tookie Williams
Jennifer Matsui
It's Mardi Graft Time!
Manual Garcia,
Jr.
Is the US Really Against Torture?
Monica Benderman
In the Name of Justice
Jason Leopold
Fitzgerald
Focuses on the Forgeries
Dave Lindorff
Suddenly, Bush Endorses Right of Fair Trials
Otober 27, 2005
Saul Landau
The
Scandal Isn't the Leak, But the Illegal War
Stuart Hodkinson
Bono
and Geldoff: "We Saved Africa" Oh No, They Didn't!
Ingmar Lee
Stop
the Troops!: No Glory or Honor in Iraq
Lila Rajiva
License
to Bill: Gates Does India
Ilan Pappe
The
Last Moment of Hope
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Waiting for Fitzgerald
Michael Donnelly
Look Who's Talking Now: the GOP on Perjury
Ron Jacobs
Escape the Weight of Your Corporate Logo
Cockburn / St. Clair
White House in Meltdown
October 26,
2005
Kathy Kelly
For
Whom They Toll
Gary Leupp
Dialectics
of the Plame Affair
Mike Marqusee
Empire of Denial
Eric Ruder
War Crimes in Afghanistan
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq: a Constitutionally Divided Nation
Joshua Frank
Fitzgerald v. the Bushies: Hold Your Elation in Check
J.L. Chestnut, Jr.
The Legacy of Rosa Parks
Website of
the Day
Decent Work in America: the 2005 Work Environment Index
October 25,
2005
Paul Craig
Roberts
Condi
and Syrian Regime Change: Could Somebody Recommend a President?
Ken Sengupta / Patrick Cockburn
Attack on the Palestine Hotel
Conn Hallinan
Sleight of Hand: Iran, India and the US
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
Pulling the Court Strings
Jackie Corr
Barbara Bush: Poster Gorgon of the Houston Astros
Robert Day
Talk to Strangers
John Sugg
Judith
Miller and Me
October 24,
2005
Dave Lindorff
Revoke
Judy Miller's Pulitzer
Michael Donnelly
Shades of Iran/contra
Patrick Cockburn
A Nation Stands on Trial
Mike Whitney
Apres Rove
Norman Solomon
Iraq is Not Vietnam, But...
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
US
Foreign Policy and Palestine
October 22
/ 23, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
When
Divas Collide: Maureen Dowd v. Judy Miller
Billy Sothern
Letter
from the Circle Bar, New Orleans
Saul Landau
Bush, an Assessment
Ralph Nader
An
Open Letter to Bush on Harriet Miers
Behrooz Ghamari
Whose Justice Does Saddam's Trial Serve?
Brian Cloughley
Bush the Strategist: Pyrrhus Without a Victory?
Diana Barahona
Venezuela's National Workers' Union
Fred Gardner
Dershowitzed!
Lee Sustar
What the War on Terror is Really About
Patrick Cockburn
Murder of Saddam Trial Defense Lawyer
Laura Carlsen
Mexico City Seamstresses Recall 1985 Quake
James Petras
China Bashing and the Loss of US Competitiveness
Joshua Frank
Invading Iran: Who is to Stop Them?
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
Disasters are Us
Michelle Bollinger
When Abortion Was Illegal
Missy Comley
Beattie
CSI: Iraq
Kona Lowell
Intelligent Design: Making High School Fun
Ben Tripp
Tanks for the Memories
Jeffrey St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening To This Week
Poets' Basement
Albert and Engel
Website of
the Day
Indictment Watch
October 21,
2005
Dave Lindorff
The
Democrats' Abortion Hypocrisy
Winslow T. Wheeler
Paying for Their Mistakes: Incompetence, Deception and the Defense
Budget
Col. Dan Smith
The Destruction of the National Guard
Norman Solomon
Media at Crossroads: 25 Years After Reagan's Triumph
Madis Senner
Abusing Katrina
Michael Donnelly
Richard
Pombo: DeLay in Cowboy Boots
October 20, 2005
Dave Lindorff
Impeachment
Comes to NYC
Ray McGovern
16
Fatal Words: Cheney's Chickens Come Home to Roost
Jeremy Brecher
/
Brendan Smith
Attack Syria? Invade Iran?: By What Constitutional Right?
Patrick Cockburn
Saddam Refuses to Recognize Court
Kevin Zeese
Was the Iraqi Constitution Vote Fixed?
Ross Eisenbrey
Millions Would Lose Pay and Protections Under Enzi Amendment
Randy Shields
James McMurtry Makes It in Dayton
Justine Davidson
Prosecuting Bush in Canada for Torture: a Small Victory
After Lucas
Cranach
Judy and Holofernes
Joe Allen
The
Scandalous History of the Red Cross
October 19,
2005
Christopher Reed
Koizumi and the Rape of Nanking
Stephen Soldz
Bush
and Avian Flu: the Excuses Begin to Fly
Chet Richards
War
and Intelligence
Patrick Cockburn
Saddam on Trial
Scott Richard
Lyons
Multicultural
Columbus?
Ralph Nader
An Interview with Rev. William Sloane Coffin
Website of
the Day
Shocking Video: Why Birds May Be Taking Viral Vengeance on Humans
October 18,
2005
Chet Flippo
Merle
Haggard: "Let's Get Out of Iraq"
Ron Jacobs
Dual Devotions: the Catholic Church and the US Flag
Keeanga-Yamahtta
Taylor
A Tale of Two Cities: From DC to Toledo
Dave Lindorff
Judy Miller: Little Miss Run Amok
Virginia Rodino
A Winter Patriot: Reflections on the Antiwar Movement
Thomas Healy
The Weather in Goshen: Still Radical After All These Years
Ralph Nader
A New New Orleans
Stephen Lendman
The Sorrows of Haiti
Patrick Cockburn
On the Eve of Saddam's Trial: a Divided Iraq
October 17,
2005
Peter Linebaugh
Spinoza
and the Black Limos
Norman Solomon
Judith Miller, the Fourth Estate and the Warfare State
Cockburn /
Sengupta
"If
the Sunnis Don't Like It, That's Their Problem"
Mike Whitney
Miller's Confession: Last Gasp Before Indictments?
Uri Avnery
Iraq Now: What Awaits Samira?
Harold Pinter
Torture & Misery in the Name of Freedom
Website of
the Day
Al Joudi v. Bush
October 15
/ 16, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Ayatollahs
of the Apocalypse
Patrick Cockburn
"This Constitution Won't Get Me a Job"
Saul Landau
Two Terrorists and a Lush: Osama, Posada and Bush's Drinking
Neve Gordon
"Beyond Chutzpah": Exposing Grave Moral Distortions
Moshe Adler
Poverty in New York City
Christopher Brauchli
Lynndie England's Burden
Diane Farsetta
The Emperor Doesn't Disclose: the Fight Against Fake News
Sam Husseini
Notes on Current Reporting About Judith Miller
Monica Benderman
From Chaos to Conscience to Peace
Mickey Z.
POW Abuse by US: Nothing New Going On Here
Douglas C.
Smyth
George W. Bush, the Honorius of Our Time
Lee Sustar
Will Delphi Bust the UAW?
Fred Gardner
Cannabinoids Arrive in Realm of Established Fact
Elizabeth Schulte
A Former Panther's Georgia Campaign: an Interview with Elaine
Brown
Joshua Frank
Will the Democrats Save Harriet Miers?
David Vest
Down with Formalism! Up with Values!
Ben Tripp
Epistle II: the Reawakenign
Poets Basement
Engel, Albert, Ford and Louise
Website of
the Weekend
The
Hidden Canyon
October 14,
2005
Farrah Hassen
A
Somber Ramadan in Syria
Ron Jacobs
The
Black Panthers: They Haven't Forgotten; Neither Should We
Sasha Kramer
USAID
and Haiti: the Friendly Face of Imperialism?
Katrina Yeaw
The Student Struggle in Italy
Nicole Colson
Bird Flu: Militarizing Health Care
Raúl Zibechi
Survival and Existence in El Alto
Nikolas Kozloff
Hugo
Chávez and the Politics of Race
Website of the Day
LA Filmmakers Cooperative
October 13, 2005
Jeremy Scahill
Mr.
Bush Goes to Tikrit (Sort Of)
Jeff Birkenstein
A
Thoreau for Our Time: Why Cindy Sheehan Matters
Brendan Smith / Jeremy Brecher
Harriet Miers: Bush or the Constitution?
Stan Cox
Did You Know This About Iraq?
Anis Memon
The Curious Case of Russ Feingold
Gary Leupp
Miller, Libby and the June Notes
Dave Zirin
A Tribute to August Wilson
Matthew Koehler
America's Endangered Forests
Werther
The
Two-Headed Monster
Website of
the Day
Hurricane Song
October 12, 2005
Omar Waraich
Britain
and the Quake: Mean and Stingy
William Cook
Voices
Behind the Entombment Wall
Phil Gasper
Countdown
to a Legal Lynching
Dave Lindorff
Impeachment Now and Then: Clinton, Bush and the Polls
Matt Vidal
Capital, Power and Class
John Gautreaux
New Orleans will Never be the Same
Diana Johnstone
Srebrenica
Revisited: Using War as an Excuse for War
Mark Weisbrot
The IMF Has Lost Its Influence
Brian J. Foley
Gitmo Tribunals Endanger Public Safety
Website of
the Day
Columbus Day Lies
October 11,
2005
Roger Morris
/ Steve Schmidt
Strategic
Demands of the 21st Century
Lila Rajiva
Live from New Orleans: Abu Ghraib
Bill Quigley
New
Orleans: Leaving the Poor Behind Again
Paul Craig Roberts
Natural Born Liars
Dave Lindorff
Recruiters in Schools: No Lie Left Untried
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
Suspect Thy Neighbor
Mitchel Cohen
Showdown at Chuck E. Cheese
Tariq Ali
Pakistan will Never Forget This Horror
Website of
the Day
L'Heure Americaine
October 10,
2005
Cindy and Craig
Corrie
Rachel's
Words Live
Joshua Frank
Washington's War Dems
Gideon Levy
The Beautiful Life Without Arafat
Alan Wallis
The Fight for Free Speech at Union Square
Mickey Z.
In Defense of Liars
CounterPunch News Service
Vermont Independence Convention
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Police State is Closer Than You Think
Website of the Day
Dylan's Chronicles
October 8 /
9, 2005
Alexander Cockburn
Rhetoric
and Reality in the Business of Getting Rid of Black People
Ralph Nader
Katrina
and the Growls of Greed
Jennifer Van Bergen
New American Law: Legal Strategies in the Dharfir Case
Saul Landau
An Oily Religious Dream
Jeff Halper
Setting Up Abbas
Lenni Brenner
The Millions More Movement and Zionism
Nikolas Kozloff
Bird Flu and Bush
Brian Cloughley
Training Soldiers in Iraq
Alice Slater
A Nobel Prize for Chernobyl?
John Gautreaux
A View from Cajun Country
Fred Gardner
Does the Controlled Substances Act Mean What It Says?
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Leveethan Approach
M.G. Piety
Rot in the Ivory Tower: Collusion, Cover-Up and Kierkegaard
Tom Gorman
The Hitchens Doctrine
Mike Whitney
Bunker Days with George
Aseem Shrivastava
Beyond the Wasteland: Lessons from Afghanistan
Ben Tripp
Religion, an Epistle
Poets' Basement
Albert, Engel and Ford
October 7,
2005
Larry Johnson
The
Plame Case: the Real Issues
Will Youmans
Why
Do We Hate Our Freedom? Recruiters and Thugs on Campus
Dave Lindorff
Bird Flu: Evolution or Intelligent Design?
Judith Scherr
Haiti's Children's Prison
Russell D. Hoffman
Nukes for Peace, Revisited?: Nobel Prize Debacle
Jared Bernstein
Katrina and Jobs
Jennifer Van
Bergen
New
American Law: the Case of Dr. Dhafir
Website of
the Day
FBI Witchhunt
October 6, 2005
P. Sainath
"Take
That, Tom Friedman": Indian Masses Reject NYT's Neoliberal
Idol Again
Scott Parkin
When Antiwar Activists Get Mugged
Paul Craig
Roberts
Blundering
into Syria
Andréa Schmidt
Haiti's Biometric Elections: a High-Tech Experiment in Exclusion
Dave Lindorff
Easy
Money in the Big Easy
Joshua Frank
In Defense of Lew Rockwell
M. Junaid Alam
Jackboots at George Mason
Matthew Koehler
Cock and Bull on the Bitterroot
Robert Pollin
Is
the Dollar Still Falling?
October 5,
2005
Heather Gray
Militarization is Not an Answer for
Reconstruction: the Case of the Philippines
Robert Jensen
Is
Bush a Racist?
Ramzy Baroud
Bush's Final Choice: America or
the Empire
Col. Dan Smith
Keeping Promises to Iraq: "Everything
is Bad"
Dave Zirin
Barry
Bonds Laughs Last
Paul Craig Roberts
Liberal Guilt? How the Neocons
Took Over
Alan Maass
Doing
the Right Wing's Dirty Work
October 4, 2005
Nikolas Kozloff
Shocking the Two Party System:
a Political Opportunity for Sheehan and the Antiwar Mvt.
Mike Roselle
Houston,
You've Got a Problem
Joshua Frank
The Scoop on Harriet Miers
John Chuckman
War
Porn: What the Gruesome Images Say
Alan Farago
Storm Warning for Jeb: Developers,
Hurricanes and the Keys
Mickey Z.
An
Interview with Thaddeus Rutkowski
Christine & Ethan Rose
Home Depot Exploits Hurricane Victims
Gary Leupp
An
Earlier Empire's War on Iraq: a Lesson from Roman History
Website of the Day
Rodney
Crowell on Bob Dylan
October 3,
2005
Vijay Prashad
Desperation at Holyoke
Paul Craig
Roberts
Condi
Rice: Gunslinger
Joshua Frank
An Interview with Cindy Sheehan
Seth Sandronsky
The
Hiring Crisis for Black Teens
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Great Green Scare

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Onward,
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November 1, 2005
Another
Trojan Horse from the UN?
Bashing Syria
By LINDA S. HEARD
It's
happening all over again. This time Syria has received the kiss
of the White House don just as laid-out in the 1996 neo-con rule
book "Clean Break", conceived on the bidding of none
other than the Israel far-right's chief thug Benjamin Netanyahu.
The fact that the cabal is
religiously sticking to its agenda is predictable but it's, surely,
shocking that world leaders seem bent on bowing to the Bush bullies
like a bunch of sycophantic schoolboys even as the Italian premier
Berlusconi is saying his mea culpas over Iraq.
On Monday, the UN Security
Council (UNSC) voted on a resolution, originally designed to
threaten Syria with sanctions should it fail to cooperate with
the UN team investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri,
headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.
Ostensible Syrian allies Russia,
China and Algeria managed to water-down the draft removing references
to sanctions before voting in favor.
This amendment may sound hopeful
but actually means little as the resolution was unanimously passed
under Chapter Seven, meaning it is liable to being militarily
enforced.
So once again, we have a Mid-East
country on the US regime-change list with a Damoclesian sword
hanging over its head, should it shrink from prostrating itself
before the New World Order by handing over top regime figures
for what is referred to nowadays as "justice".
In this case, the suspects
are the Syrian President's own brother and brother-in-law having
been fingered by a Syrian deserter and embezzler who recently
telephoned his elder brother from Paris with the words: "I've
become a millionaire", or so reports the German magazine
Der Spiegel.
Further, the "Mehlis report"
is drenched with bias from start to finish, acknowledging the
help investigators received from Lebanon and other countries
with no mention of Syria.
Moreover, in its "Executive
Summary" it terms the assassination of Hariri as "terrorist"
but later goes on to suggest "fraud, corruption and money-laundering
could have been motives for individuals to participate in the
operation". In this case, his death would not fall under
the category of terrorism but criminality.
Indeed, during the UN's recent
60th anniversary summit, delegates failed to agree on a definition
of 'terrorism' so if the UN doesn't recognize the meaning of
that word, what is it doing coloring a heavyweight UN report?
But let's not be too pedantic.
Whether or not the higher echelons of the Syrian government were
involved in the killing of the former Lebanese Prime Minister
is a useful red herring in the great scheme of things.
Since when has the UN been
involved with investigating the demise of individuals, even ones
as beloved as Hariri?
If that was ever its mandate,
why didn't it dispatch its minions to search out the killers
of JFK, Salvadore Allende, Anwar Sadat or look into the mysterious
deaths of Gamal Abdul Nasser and Yasser Arafat?
Why didn't the UN delve into
who poisoned Viktor Yushchenko? The answer is simple. Doing so
would not be politically expedient as the investigation of Hariri's
death so transparently is.
It's clear that Hariri's assassination
is being trumped up as a proverbial smoking gun and a handy
emotive one at that - in the 'out to get Syria' game, indicating
that the White House is scraping the barrel for a regime-change
pretext.
Let's face it. Syria's president
Bashar Al-Assad is no Saddam Hussein. He hasn't been "gassing
his own people" and neither has he invaded his neighbor
(he was invited in to Lebanon by the Lebanese government to quell
a civil war), nor has he begun a series of pre-emptive wars.
In fact, in the run-up to the
Iraq war when Syria held a temporary seat on the UNSC, Al-Assad
and his British-born wife were given the red carpet treatment
by both Downing Street and Queen Elizabeth.
Unlike Saddam, a rough and
ready rifle-wielding bandito-type, Bashar Al-Assad is a soft-spoken
eye-doctor unwillingly thrust into power when his popular brother
Basil died due to a road accident. And unlike Saddam, Bashar
has attempted to implement a series of political, social and
economic reforms against opposition from his father's old guard.
This is a cultured man with
whom the West should be dialoguing not demonizing. So where did
Al-Assad go wrong and when did he become a marked man?
His greatest 'mistake' was
being one of the few Arab leaders to speak out against the invasion
of Iraq and give public support to Palestinian militant groups
deemed 'terrorist' by the U.S.
His dressing down of Britain's
Prime Minister Tony Blair during the latter's visit to Damascus
in front of the cameras was the start of a slippery slope. From
then, he could do no right in spite of the fact the vast majority
of world nations were of like mind, including France, Germany
and Russia.
Since, Syria has been accused
of harboring terrorists and allowing insurgents and weapons to
freely cross its borders into Iraq.
In answer to these charges,
it closed down the Damascus offices of Hamas and other groups
and appealed for US assistance in sealing its long porous borders.
It also asked Britain to supply it with night-vision goggles
so as to police the border, which Britain agreed to do before
reneging on its promise.
When Western nations occupying
Iraq began playing the tom-toms against Syria's having over-stayed
its welcome in Lebanon, Al-Assad responded by withdrawing Syrian
troops and dismantling its intelligence apparatus there. A UN
report signed off on Syria's exit.
So here was a country which
does not have weapons of mass destruction, was not threatening
or occupying its neighbors, had cooperated with Bush's war on
terror and which has long been asking to return to the peace
table with Israel offering peace in exchange for occupied Syrian
territory including the strategically important Golan Heights.
Ah! Here we may be onto something.
A return to "Clean Break",
whose authors are all current or former members of the Bush administration
and include Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz as well as David and
Meyrav Wurmser, may give us a clue.
Given a hearty stamp of approval
by Dick Cheney and Daniel Pipes, the document calls for the overthrow
of both the Syrian and Iranian regimes in order to secure Israel
as the dominant regional power, along with an end to the 'land
for peace' policy.
In light of the sheer ruthlessness
of the above in pursuing their Straussian goals, as evidenced
by the recent CIA leak case, and their need for a cassus belli
to go after Syria, one must take their crocodile tears over Hariri's
death with a huge shovel of salt.
Lastly, I would like to leave
you with some questions which deserve mulling over.
Why would the Syrian government
on the brink of quitting Lebanon and in the knowledge that it
was being squeezed by the White House and Downing Street itching
for a fight murder a Lebanese out-of-power politician and with
such dramatic fanfare entailing the use of elaborate planning
and sophisticated equipment?
The Mehlis report states both
the Lebanese and Syrian secret services were tapping Hariri's
phone lines and knew his every movement in advance. That said,
wouldn't a single sniper's bullet have done the job even more
efficiently than a bomb? And, more importantly, fewer individuals
would have been involved and the evidentiary paper trail insignificant.
Even if the Syrian regime was
dumb enough to kill Hariri in the way that it is alleged, there
is a far bigger picture at play, which unfortunately many Lebanese
are unable to see.
This myopia is because many
Lebanese are rightfully angry over Syria's extended stay in their
country and emotionally traumatized at the passing of a true
Lebanese patriot credited for returning parts of Beirut to their
pre-war magnificence.
Nevertheless, the Lebanese
must realize that any attack on Syria is ultimately an attack
on them and with Hizbollah vowing to stand shoulder to shoulder
with Damascus yet another Lebanese internal conflagration could
be triggered.
Revenge may be sweet but the
Lebanese should remember it is not only fleeting it also has
a nasty habit of boomeranging.
In this case, the way forward
for everyone concerned should be a process of forgiveness and
reconciliation.
I can only hope that Lebanon
won't allow itself to be used as a pawn in a foreign power play
destined to benefit Israeli expansionism and neo-con hegemonic
ambitions. And, even more importantly, I would urge world leaders
to look up the meaning of 'integrity' before locating their missing
cajones.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer and columnist
on Mid-East affairs based in Cairo. She can be contacted at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk
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